The cooling apparatus according to the present invention is suitable for use in a piping system where hot condensate (hot liquid produced by condensation of steam) in the piping need to be cooled down into cold liquid. For instance, in a boiler operation, some hot condensate will be cooled down into cold liquid so that it can be used for other suitable applications. The hot condensate will be conveyed through a series of piping and brought into a point where a necessary cooling method will be used to cool down the hot condensate. The cold liquid will then be passed through an analyzer for quality check.
Practically, hot condensate is cooled down into cold liquid before entering the analyzer because temperature of the hot condensate may affect the accuracy of the analyzer. Further, cold liquid is easy to be analyzed compared to using hot liquid.
Different cooling methods can be used to cool down hot condensate in a piping. For instance, a cooling method called cooling water system (CWS) can be used to cool the hot condensate. CWS uses cold water to remove the heat from the hot condensate. Disadvantage of using CWS is that the piping that supplies the cold water may subject to clogging after a period of time. This is due to formation of scales inside the piping that will result in insufficient flow. Although some improvements have been made to the piping to minimize this problem, clogging will still happen at the upstream piping. Other disadvantage of using CWS is that repairing and servicing a clogged piping are very costly.
Another cooling method that can be used is a vortex cooler. The vortex cooler can provide cooling air suitable for cooling purposes. However to use a vortex cooler for cooling hot condensate in a piping is an expensive option because a greater amount of energy needs to be used. Since the operation of vortex cooler is dependent on pressurized air, a greater pressurized air is needed to provide a greater cooling effect to cool down the hot condensate in a piping. The other disadvantage of using a vortex cooler is that it is not efficient. This is because the pressurized air that enters the vortex cooler is not fully utilized in which some of the pressurized air will be expelled from the vortex cooler as hot air.
In view of the above disadvantages, it is an objective of the present invention to provide an alternative cooling apparatus and method that is suitable for cooling a hot condensate in a piping.